The Tombs will no longer be holding Sunday wine nights after the Clyde’s Restaurant Group instructed its restaurants to cancel this weekly event in a directive released last Friday.
The Tombs has indefinitely cancelled its Sunday wine nights upon a directive from the Clyde’s Restaurant Group.
“I don’t know why exactly it was cancelled, but the reasoning behind it — I know it came down from our corporate office — we’re part of the Clyde’s Restaurant Group, and that it was a company-wide decision,” General Manager Rich Kaufman (SFS ’05) said.
The directive was handed down last Friday and went into effect for the first time on Sunday. Kaufman hoped the decision would be temporary but could not say for sure. He hypothesized that it could be for the safety of the restaurant’s guests, but he was unable to provide any further detail.
The Tombs, along with the other restaurants in the Clyde’s Restaurant Group, which include 1789, Clyde’s, Old Ebbitt Grill and The Hamilton, held wine night once a week. For The Tombs, this night fell on Sunday, a night when patrons could buy bottles of wine for 10 dollars, half the regular price, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Students expressed their disappointment at the end of the promotion.
“I always used wine night as a chance to catch up with my friends at the end of the weekend,” Meghan Bodie (SFS ’15) wrote in an email. “I loved it because the environment was low key and the wine deal was sweet. RIP wine night.”
Kaufman said that the restaurant was in the process of finding another promotion for Sundays.
“We have specials every night of the week. We’re hoping within a week or two to have something that could replace Sunday nights, but we haven’t made any plans yet,” he said.
The statement about wine night from the management group was coupled with a directive prohibiting the use of vertical IDs in Clyde’s establishments, causing some Georgetown students to be denied access to the restaurant last weekend.
“When I arrived, the bouncer checked my ID (a vertical Pennsylvania driver’s license) and asked if I had any other form of identification, explaining that he was no longer allowed to accept any vertical driver’s licenses as valid form of ID,” Audrey Utkus (COL ’15) wrote in an email. “When I told him I had nothing else, he called the manager over to see if there was any way I could get in.”
The restaurant discussed the vertical ID directive with the corporate offices and had the decision reversed the next day.
“I think that someone maybe got some erroneous information,” Kaufman said. “We talked to the people in corporate, and the decision was reversed within a day, which is good.”
Utkus was pleased with the way the restaurant handled the situation.
“The Tombs staff was very nice despite the circumstances and seemed frustrated with the policy,” she wrote.
Kaufman hoped that, despite the difficulties, customers would recognize the efforts of the restaurant to serve them.
“I hope everyone sticks by us. We’re definitely going to do right by the guests,” he said. “We’re going to come up with the best thing possible if we can’t do wine night anymore.”
